Campaign Trail

Published Monday, January 14, 2008

Clinton defends King comment that Obama called 'ill-advised'

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defended her recent remarks on civil rights Sunday, even as Sen. Barack Obama weighed in on the controversy for the first time, describing Clinton's earlier comments about the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. as "unfortunate" and "ill-advised."

Obama had previously tried to sidestep direct engagement in the debate over race. But the recent controversy has touched a nerve with many African Americans, including some sympathetic to the Clintons, and Obama chose to address it Sunday.

The primary source of the debate is a comment Monday from the New York Democrat: "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act," she said, adding that "it took a president to get it done." Critics read that as playing down King's importance in the civil rights movement. Clinton said Sunday that the Obama campaign was "deliberately distorting this."

Asked whether he had taken offense to Clinton's remarks, the Illinois Democrat said he had not been the one to raise the subject.

Giuliani trying to fend off fast-rising rivals

This is how Rudy Giuliani wants voters to think of him: the strong leader after the Sept. 11 attacks, standing on top of a flag-draped fire truck Sunday that matched his red tie, waving at the cheering crowds.

But the made-for-TV scene from the Three Kings Parade in Little Havana is competing with another national image: a presidential candidate slumping in the polls and burning through cash.

Republican rivals Mike Huckabee and John McCain are riding high from wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Next up is Michigan and South Carolina; Giuliani is running fifth in both. Some of his campaign staffers have forgone paychecks, though Giuliani said they did it out of an "excess of generosity."

"We're in good shape, we really are," Giuliani told reporters after a rally in Pompano Beach attended by about 300 people Sunday. "The reality is, we have enough money to get through this. We're going to be able to contest very strongly here in Florida."

Romney, McCain disagree on blame for auto woes

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is tying his fate in the presidential primary in Michigan to the survival of the American auto industry, casting himself as the champion of its workers while blaming his rival Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for Washington's indifference to its plight.

Both men raced across Michigan's economically troubled landscape Sunday in search of support ahead of a vote Tuesday that will likely either give Romney the win he needs to keep his presidential hopes alive or firmly establish McCain as the front-runner and someone who can succeed outside New Hampshire.

With polls here showing the Michigan race essentially tied, Romney portrayed McCain as a villain in what he said is the federal government's overregulation of the industry and blind insistence on tougher fuel standards.

"Look at Washington. What have they done to help the domestic auto industry?" Romney said on CNN on Sunday, citing congressional pressure to improve gas mileage and reduce emissions. "Look, you can't keep on throwing anvils at Michigan and the auto industry and then say, how come they are not swimming well?"

McCain fired right back. After a overflowing town hall Sunday afternoon, the veteran senator told reporters he has confidence that Michigan's auto industry can thrive while meeting tougher environmental rules.

Huckabee seeking S.C.'s evangelical vote

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tiptoed around any mention of his run for the Republican presidential nomination. And the ex-Baptist minister assured 5,000 members of First Spartanburg North Baptist that that he'd come to their church Sunday to give a sermon, not a speech.

At the 9:30 a.m. service and again at the 10:50, preacher Huckabee talked about his ties to past Southern Baptist leaders, read a passage from Luke's Gospel, led the congregation in bowed-head, eyes-closed prayer, even mentioned the day he accepted Jesus it was at Vacation Bible School, when he was 10 years old.

In other words, Huckabee said without having to say it: Unlike those other guys on the ballot, I'm one of you.